Song of myself
Walt Whitman was a great American poet. He spent his entire life to create “Leaves of Grass” which Contains the magnificent society and abundance thoughts of the United States at the time. “Leaves of Grass” was first time published in 1855. It included over 300 poems, and the longest poem “Song of Myself” was a micro version of “Leaves of Grass” The content of “Song of Myself” almost contains the main ideas of the author, Reflected the reality of life of American, praised American democracy and the American people in that era.
“Song of Myself” has 52 sections, I think all of the sections are great, but I like section 6 most because it makes feel a lot. Below is original text of section 6:
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,
Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?
Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.
Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same.
And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers’ laps,
And here you are the mothers’ laps.
This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.
O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,
And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their laps.
What do you think has become of the young and old men?
And what do you think has become of the women and children?
They are alive and well somewhere,
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
In this section, he talks about what is the meaning of grass. He believes the grass is the most ordinary, the humblest thing. Grass is trampled by people, but they are full of vitality and grow everywhere. Just like Whitman said, “it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among white” In addition, when he says “hopeful green stuff woven.” He uses “the flag of my disposition”,”the handkerchief of the Lord”,”uniform hieroglyphic” to explain grass has conscious and universal. Grass has the characteristics of life and death, and move in endless cycles, symbolizes life to death to newborn, shows up the tenacious vitality of the grass, and this is exactly the quality and spirit of people.